Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Excellence Holidays to pay Holiday-Makers Full Amount

The Consumer Claims Tribunal yesterday ruled in favour of 66 claimants who had bought holiday packages from Excellence Holidays Sdn Bhd and ordered the defunct company to pay back the full amount of claims.

Tribunal president Datuk Seri Mutalib Mohd Razak told the 50-over claimants who turned up for the hearing yesterday that the sum would be based on the amount paid to the tour agent.

United stand: Claimants of Excellence Holidays Sdn Bhd’s travel packages are determined to get their money back.

At press time, the total amount was still not available; however, a check with the tribunal revealed that the highest claim was for RM25,000, while the lowest was RM1,000.

Customers who had bought their tickets and travel packages at the fair said they were told hours before their scheduled departure that their trips had been cancelled.

Claimants’ representative Chia Geh Yang said they would pursue legal action against Excellence Holidays directors if the company failed to pay up and, subsequently, would consider taking action against the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) if that failed.

They would also take the matter up with the Tourism Ministry and stage a demonstration, he said.

Another claimant, manager Selina Yap, said Matta had promised to investigate the case but it had been two months and they had not heard from the association.

“We are not expecting them to pay us back but to provide some kind of compensation, such as travel packages or discounts,” she said, adding that Matta should give them a deadline on the investigation.

Yap said they hoped to put up a protest banner at the next Matta fair in September.

She said the Companies Commission of Malaysia had invited claimants to give their statement on the case last week, since no one had reported to it Excellence Holidays’ closure.